Resistance, hopefully isn't futile

Moor's Copse looking towards Sherborne village

Last years planted hedge, Northfield Copse on the horizon

Later start today, but fair weather contrary to expectation after a hot bank holiday and one of my favourite tasks to look forward to! This was especially true since we were to spend the whole day planting Elm trees which were of a strain which is hopefully resistant to Dutch Elm disease. Part of the work was selecting the best sites for planting the Elms. This included locations in some of the hedges planted over the last 1- 10 years and open pastures near to dead or dying trees ensuring the landscape retains its impressive looks. The location of each of the trees planted was recorded along with the 'root stock' so in the future it will reveal how well the particular Elm strains have fared.

There were 6 sites visited during the day and the first was a hedge line {~5 years old} on the northern borders of the estate close to Northfield Copse but on the Leasow Furlong side of the road. We next crossed over the road and planted the next Elms in the hedge built last year which has Northfield Copse at one end and Clark's Close at the other. Next was new hedge 2 and then a hedge line backing onto a paddock {with 2 friendly young horses} which was adjacent to Crookmoor Ash. On route we passed along the edge of Sandy Hill Copse with view of Sandy hill farm and the North West boundary of the estate. Quite a bit of scrambling for me over the Hedge fence lines some with barb wire and plenty of maturing thorny Hedge to restrict my comfort zone as I dug the holes to receive the Elm trees. 

The afternoon offered a change in approach where the locations were 2 fields used for sheep pasture the first down from Crookmoor Ash/Clark's  Close and the second next door and down from Moor's Copse with some splendid living Oaks and some dead ones providing good habitat for insects and lambs!.  Only had time to plant the Elms with tree protectors, in strategically chosen locations, the tree guards needed to defend against livestock would be the next task when Mike returns from holiday. Twenty splendid Elms were planted today a worthy effort and an enjoyable experience in some of the best scenery provided by the Sherborne estate . 

A thousand trees!

This week signalled the change over from thinning & clearing to planting and 'less intrusive to wildlife' activities. So earlier in the week, with Martin, the completion of the fence clearing at Clump farm was the priority. Prior to this an apple tree at the Broadway end of Clump Farm needed cutting back. So having done this we moved back up the hill to complete the fence clearing. True to form the sheep moved in hoping for some food and once again we disappointed them. Have to say the weather was a great improvement on the previous week and we finished clearing early afternoon. This enabled Martin to tackle some much needed thinning of some sizeable ash trees which were impacting the boundary fence of a mixed plantation, close to where we were fence clearing.  Required some nifty chainsaw work but all in a days work for a skilled Ranger.

The Clump!

 Mike back from holiday this week so was pleased to hear we were to start planting ash trees in the East belt. Was quietly confident given I had some experience of planting the odd tree during my work in NT gardens. Began to suspect I had underestimated the scale of tree planting when we loaded up the trailer with stakes and tree protectors.  A quick count of the ash trees to be planted revealed 1000+!, I could hear a stereophonics song forming 'it takes 1 volunteer to plant a thousand trees ...?'. Fortunately Mike revealed we needed to 'heel'  most of them in a temporary trench in the Sherborne nursery area and start the multi phase planting  task with a 100 or so.  So armed with mini 'drivals', spades, stakes and protectors we set off for the East belt.  After a quick briefing from Mike on the approach { he's only planted ~50000 trees in his work for NT}, we began. Not ideal terrain with some thick tree roots and stony ground to combat but we completed the day with 80+ new ash trees planted. Ok Mike planted a few more than me! but I lack the practice.  Couple of interesting statistics came to light in this industrial scale  planting. The first is the funding,  where a Forestry Commission grant contributes towards the costs of the materials & trees  purchased. The second is that of the sapling trees planted only ~ 20% may reach maturity given environment conditions, animals and the need to thin out so only the best ash growth is selected.

Heeling- selection of young ash prior to soil covering

First batch of ash planted,  Mikes in there somewhere